VANCOUVER, BC: Public health restrictions are coming to Northern BC on September 7, focusing on social gatherings..All communities within the Northern Health region will be under the following mandatory restrictions:.Personal gatherings in your home – one additional family or 5 guests.Personal gatherings outside your home – maximum 50 people.Indoor events – have a safety plan.Outside events – when more than 200 people, then have a safety plan.Sporting events with spectators, indoor & outdoor – have a safety plan..The northern mandatory restrictions follow those recently rolled out in the Interior Health region, with health officials directing blame towards the unvaccinated..“Sadly, we’re seeing some transmission that has taken off in a number of communities where we have pockets of people who are unvaccinated,” said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry on Thursday..The provincial government release says the aforementioned orders “will remain in place until Northern Health experiences lower cases and higher vaccination rates.”.Northern Health president and CEO, Cathy Ulrich “strongly encourages” all people over the age of 12 to get vaccinated, with officials saying the easily transmittable delta variant is cause for great concern..Critics say that the risk does not justify the orders..“The chances of dying from COVID is about .003% for people under the age of 24 in Canada,” Dr. Steven Pelech told the Western Standard..“If you’re under 19, your chances of having harm from the vaccine is about four to five times higher than getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 itself,” said Pelech, who also suggests that delta is “the latest variant that’s on progression of SARS-CoV-2 evolving into a common cold.”.Beginning September 13, the BC government will impose a vaccine passport system requiring people to provide proof of their vaccination status to access a number of “non-essential” services and events..Information regarding BC’s plan for potential booster shots is expected to be discussed in the coming weeks, officials say..Reid Small is a BC correspondent for the Western Standard.,rsmall@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/reidsmall
